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On July 22, the National Car-
nival Commission (NCC)
announced its new plans for
Carnival 2016 at a media launch
at the Grand Stand, Queen s Park
Savannah, Port-of-Spain. At that
event, NCC chairman Lorraine
Pouchet stressed that "creativity"
would be the focus of the NCC
for Carnival next year.
To that end, the commission
plans to add competitions and
cash incentives to drive the
changes among masqueraders and
steelbands. A new award, for
most creative band presentation,
will receive $300,000 and the
best playing costumed steelband
on Carnival Monday will be
awarded $100,000.
At the same event, Dr Lincoln
Douglas, Minister of Arts and
Multiculturalism, laid his own
emphasis on "accountability," that
most elusive of words among the
special interest groups that were
the beneficiaries of over $300
million in state funds for the 2015
Carnival.
It won t be the first time that
both the Government and Carni-
val s state agency sought to put a
leash on the excesses of the festi-
val, and to rationalise and monitor
the massive state spending on the
annual street party. But those
efforts have tended to be long on
threats and short on execution.
Government-led efforts at seek-
ing to recapture the glory days of
Carnival, at least as far as cos-
tuming goes, have tended to be
spectacularly ill-conceived. The
NCC is hardly blameless in this,
pouring money into odd projects
like a state-sponsored band for
any masquerader to join, a ven-
ture that mercifully died a quiet
and unlamented death after a sin-
gle embarrassing season. The last
decade of Carnival management
has been characterised by the
same thing, over and over.
Each year, thousands of trophies
accompanied by prize money are
distributed across a micro-sliced
cross-section of practitioners
within the Carnival industry. For
every Soca Monarch, Large Band
of the Year and Panorama cham-
pion there are hundreds of smaller
prizes that amount to a secondary
subvention of the Carnival indus-
try---a Cepep delivered via little
silver cups. It s unsurprising that
Mrs Pouchet would resort to cre-
ating another category to encour-
age greater creative input in the
festival.
As for the minister s suggestion
that the special interest groups
who draw down hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars to run the festival
should be accountable for that
money, the question that really
needs to be asked is why it took
him four years to decide that
might be a good idea. Nothing
illustrates that challenge more
clearly than the tentative reluc-
tance with which the NCC has
approached the establishment and
continuance of the first major pri-
vate sector initiative on the Carni-
val parade route in decades, the
establishment of the Socadrome.
For those who have viewed that
project with suspicion, it should
be remembered that Carnival has
been under the control of the
central government for only a
third of its existence, beginning in
1957. This newspaper, in 1919,
began one of the great traditions
of the festival, the parade at the
Savannah, sponsoring Carnival
there in commemoration of World
War 1. Both Mrs Pouchet and Dr
Douglas would have done Carnival
better service if they had crafted
plans that placed more of Carni-
val s considerable subventions into
research and development while
demanding clear timelines of
accountability as a basis for
accessing public money.
Increasing creativity in the festi-
val demands discipline, training
and the type of thinking that nei-
ther the Commission nor the
State seem equipped to deliver.
What they both have available is
money and it must be more sen-
sibly spent.
It won't be the first time that both the Government and Carnival's state
agency sought to put a leash on the excesses of the festival, and to rationalise
and monitor the massive state spending on the annual street party. But those
efforts have tended to be long on threats and short on execution.
A20
MONDAY,
AUGUST 3,
2015
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As Donald Trump surges in the polls
against his numerous rivals in the
Republican party, Hillary Clinton and her
Democratic supporters must be smiling.
The increasingly muddled and
contentious race for the GOP
nomination is making things easy for
the Democrats.
At last count, 16 Republican
candidates are in the race---most of
whom have insignificant levels of
support on a countrywide level. They do,
however, have the effect of undermining
and draining support from each other.
The Democrats, on the other hand,
currently only have five candidates
vying for their party's nomination, which
Clinton is almost certain to win.
In particular, Trump represents a
nightmare scenario for the GOP
establishment. He's already managed to
attract a significant number of
Republicans away from the
"mainstream" candidates by pandering
to the fears and anti-immigrant
sentiments of the furthest extreme of
American voters.
If in the end Trump runs as a third-
party candidate rather than as a
Republican, the election is as good as
over before it even begins. By
attempting to marginalise him and push
him to the margins of the GOP---no
matter how well deserved---the rest of
the Republican candidates are making
this outcome more likely.
Statistics swing dramatically in favour
of Clinton. An ABC/Washington Post
poll last week found that, as things
stand, Clinton leads Jeb Bush 50 per
cent to 44 per cent. The inclusion of a
third-party candidate would bring
Clinton to 46 per cent, compared to
Bush's 30 per cent. ---Khaleej Times
SOUND-OFF: Trump making race harder for GOP, easier for Democrats
Sustainable Carnival plans, please